I just like new phones 🙈

There was a couple years where I could trade in last year's Samsung for like $100 below the cost of the new phone, and they'd give me $250 in accessories with that. It was honestly just the cheapest option for a bit.

A free phone from your carrier is never actually free. You will be paying for it over the next 6 months to 2 years.

My iphone is almost 7 years old and still runs great. No problems with the battery, speed is just fine, everything is fine. I paid about $1,000 for it and I'm determined to squeeze every last penny of life out of it. No plans to change until it breaks or becomes unusable somehow.

I break them, then buy a new unlocked "last gen" phone cheap to replace it. I am usually one or two versions behind the "newest" phone, but I'm spending less than using carrier based device insurance. Phones have become like sunglasses to me. I don't buy particularly nice ones because I just destroy them.

I bought a Redmi Note 11 pro last year and it's a great phone! Really though, buying new phones every year is something only well off people can afford (or people who are ok getting into lots of credit card debt). There really is no point right now, newer phones just aren't that much better and in fact smartphone sales worldwide are slowing down exactly because everyone who wants a good enough smartphone already has one. My current phone does absolutely everything I need, in fact it's much more powerful than my first laptop ever was, I can emulate most retro consoles, watch uhd videos, use any app I need, listen to all the music I want, I can even do things like use microsoft office on it. I don't need a new one, this works just perfect for me. The only thing that would make it better is to get it rooted so I can install a custom rom and get rid of xiaomi's bloatware infested android rom

IDK, I always buy used phones and pretty much use them until they either die or are no longer usable because they were abandoned by the manufacturer for too long. I haven't had a new phone in probably close to a decade now. The last new phone I bought was an Xperia Z3 Compact.

I finally dropped my S10e too many times. I tried switching to my backup phone which was a Pixel 2 but it is pretty limited in terms of bands for my carrier. So I bought a Pixel 6a. I would love a Zenfone 9 but it is a tad pricey.

Would I have upgraded of my phone hadn't died? Probably. It stopped receiving security updates. The battery was starting to not last all day. There were some things it was starting to get slow on. The camera was okay in good lighting but shit in bad lighting.

Newer phones are not actually selling all that well. Still good but there aren't really likes it the door on release day like there used to be. People are keeping their phones for a lot longer now or opting for midrange ones.

Been rocking a oneplus 8 for the last two and half years, replaced the back glass a couple times and the battery once. I definitely don't baby my phone, it's a tool meant to be used, but overall am pretty good at not dropping things so I can reckon I'll keep going with it until it gets too slow or something breaks.

When choosing a new phone, I usually go for something new that's one level below the latest flagship, and check to see if LineageOS is being developed for it, as then I know it's likely to receive software updates for long after I've moved on to the next.

Thing is, I like, many people here, am a techie, and I'm not afraid to install custom ROMs and open up my phone for repair. The majority of people don't want that, so I'm really looking forward to the upcoming EU regulation on user replaceable batteries! Then it's possible for everyone to keep their phone for longer.

Performance gains for certain software or games. Especially if you are into emulation then the higher power of newer flagships or better cooling design, mean that you can run more recent games on your phone. Same thing goes with camera lenses, better camera means you can get better shots so if you are into photography it makes sense to upgrade.

Thrift wise, there is never really a reason to upgrade as long as it still texts and makes calls but the non-phone features are why you would upgrade early.

Unpopular opinion: everyone focuses on productivity, then on features. Literally zero consideration for performance. Also lack of customization. I can flash Linux, hackintosh or any other random OS on any laptop I buy, but not on smartphone...

Kind of sucks that my Cat S62 Pro smartphone suck ass with it's slowness and lags and I can blame Cat as a manufacturer for that, but lack of standards (so I can flash generic OS onto it simply sucks).

So I am forced to buy new phone every 1-2 years because it gets slow... 🤷

Oh wait! Batteries are not replaceable! USB-C port is also incresibly hard to change!

The convenience of not replacing the battery.

I'm in a good financial position and swapping the battery isn't rocket surgery, but it's a bit of a risk I'm not willing to take. Plus Pixel phones go on a decently deep discount in September before the next model is released.

And I wait until the battery is bloated so it's kinda a safety thing too.

It's turned into the car stereo thing. In 2002, I wanted a rainbow vomit colored faceplate, CD-R and MP3 support, CD carousel in the trunk, a USB port, steering wheel remote

Now I just want bluetooth, an aux in and a volume button.

Until phones merge with a steamdeck or something, there isn't much to look forwards to anymore.

My phone from 2014 pretty much did everything my current phone can. Certainly nothing worth spending hundreds of dollars on if you have a working cell.

Because my simple or brain likes shiny new things.

I have been using my poco f1 for more than 4 years now, the only problem i have had is the battery. It has an sdcard slot, headphone jack, 6gb of ram which has been more than enough and latest lineageos is supported. see https://fsfe.org/activities/upcyclingandroid/index.en.html

I like having high-end cameras and screens on my phones.

I keep my phones in excellent condition and sell them whenever I upgrade, which doesn’t make it a crazy expensive process.

Your carries never gives it to you cheap. At best they sell you it at cost. More likely they sell it to you at MSRP. the cost is wrapped up in your monthly, and they hope people are too stupid or lazy to notice.

I had an S10E that I loved. But then I had a baby and wanted better pictures as memories. So I upgraded the camera I had on me at all times, and went for an S22U. Took a while to get used to the huge size difference, but I couldn't be happier.

Also got it 'used' from Facebook marketplace, brand new in its box for almost half price. The guy had it as a free upgrade from his service provider, didn't want to change phones, and wanted some quick cash for it. Had all the paperwork and everything.

The only feature that motivated me to upgrade to my latest phone was a much better camera and I wanted that for traveling.

I bought an unlocked Pixel 6 near launch on sale and intend to use it until security updates cease (five years from launch).